The Mine
by Ciya
Summary: The Winchesters hunt a ghost of a flood victim attacking teens. -Warning: the fic is pretty dark and includes the death of children.-


_Written for the 2012 Hellatus Fanfiction Picture Prompt #2 at Supernatural -dot- tv. The pictures are still up so you can check them out if you wish._

**The Mine**

With the occasional loose rock moving under their hands or feet, Sam and Dean Winchester carefully climb the final six feet up the rock wall to a dark, timber framed opening. Dean pulls himself over the crumbling edge, flipping around he offers a hand to his brother and they are soon staring into an old abandoned mineshaft. Flicking on their flashlights the brothers carefully pick their way along the long passage avoiding the over 120-year-old wood supports and multiple rock falls until it dead ends in an impenetrable wall of rock. Dean straightens up slightly to ease the ache in his lower back caused by having to spend most of the way bent over in order not to brain himself on the low ceiling. He glances back at the entrance, a bright spot shining in the distance, as Sam runs an EMF meter over the rock wall. "Guess the ore vein petered out," Sam mutters.

"What?" Dean asks, flashing his light over the old timbers bracing the ceiling and walls.

"Just thinking out loud." He notices a discolored line running more or less horizontally along the back wall about three inches from the ceiling, "looks like a high water mark."

The older Winchester squints at the dark line than nods in agreement. "They never had a chance did they."

Running the meter along a nearby timber Sam replies sadly, "no, they didn't," thinking of the stark terror the four kids would've experienced on that long night thirty-four years ago.

_-June 9__th__, 1972 would go down in twin brothers Calvin and Kevin's memories as the rainiest day of summer vacation. They and their visiting cousins, Michaela and Trey, were tired of being told "keep the noise down you'll wake the girls" and headed out in the rain to goof off in a new hide out they'd discovered. Forgotten by adults and hidden from sight by an overgrowth of trees the abandoned gold mine sat twelve feet up the sheer canyon wall and was only a fifteen minute brisk walk from the twin's house in Dark Canyon. The four preteens chattered happily as they splashed through puddles and ran across the footbridge leading from Calvin and Kevin's backyard to the far bank of Rapid Creek. The cousins laughed as they helped each other scramble up the slippery crumbling hidden rock steps carved out of the solid granite wall to the mouth of the mine. They were completely unconcerned that with all the rain it was receiving the normally placid creek had increased its width from twenty to thirty feet._

_ Rain continued to fall and the day got progressively darker, both facts going unnoticed by the cousins as they searched for the elusive 'Minnelusa quartz vein' the key to riches beyond their wildest dreams. The blaring of civil defense sirens brought the cousins running to the mouth of the mine; they stared in awe as the beams of their flashlights picked out the trunks and branches of mature cottonwoods, aspens and pine trees shooting down the creek like bullets. Rapid Creek had jumped its banks washing away anything in its path and was less than nine feet below the entrance to the mine_

_The sight of a house flashing by with people trapped inside snapped the cousins into action, they screamed for help and flashed SOS with their flashlights hoping someone would see them. The water continued to rise and it soon flowed into the mine. They backed up until they could go no further and before long they were treading water. Michaela and Calvin were the stronger swimmers of the four and tried to tow the other two out to dubious safety but the speed of the water flowing into the mine was to much for them, escape was all but impossible._

_After the floodwaters receded a Search and Rescue team headed by the cousin's grandfather discovered Trey's body hanging from a nail protruding from one of the bracing timbers inside the mine. Kevin's body was found impaled on a branch of one of the trees choking the spillway floodgates in the surviving section of the dam in Canyon Lake Park. Calvin's body was recovered the day after Kevin's, hung up on a barbed wire fence five miles east of Rapid City. Michaela's body wasn't found until four days later, just a few miles from where Rapid Creek empties into the Cheyenne River a rancher cleaning out his flood damaged barn discovered her battered body curled up under his tractor. _

_In the years following the 1972 Flood lights were seen and screams were heard emanating from the mine; calls were made and police officers dispatched to investigate. When no one was found in or near the mine the officers would attribute the calls to overactive imaginations and the wind blowing by the mouth of the mine. Enterprising teenagers would have ghost parties in the mine, nothing much occurred at these parties beyond the excessive drinking of alcohol and the smoking of dubious substances, until the time a youth brought a Ouija board. Laughing and joking they set up the board, placed the planchette in the middle then asked the standard questions. Their flashlights flickered and water rained down on them - the smarter party goers left right then. The hard core partiers stayed - shivering as a cold wind encircled them with the horrible sounds of choking and gasping; then the planchette zoomed off the board and smashed into a wall. They ran like rats leaving a sinking ship._

_A few days after the Ouija board incident the body of one of the teens attending the party was discovered within a few feet of the mine. An autopsy revealed she'd drowned and with the water in her lungs being consistent with the water from the creek, her death was determined to be a tragic accident. The next week a second teen's body was found, two days later a third. After the fourth teen's body was stumbled upon the FBI was called in and after a short investigation the term 'suicide pact' was alluded to. After a month of no new bodies or evidence the FBI declared the case closed. Needless to say this assertion didn't sit well with the parents of the dead teens. With questions going unanswered the city fathers solution was to board up the mine entrance, destroy the rock steps and prominently display __No Trespassing__ signs._

_Further sights and sounds originating from the mine were ignored and chalked up -again- to the wind. Years flowed by, memories dimmed and a new generation of teens rediscovered the mine and the tragedies surrounding it. Mystical chants and spells were Googled, occult shops were visited and once more teens were dying.- _

The squealing of the EMF meter startles them. "Sam?"

Sam runs the meter over a nail hole in the beam, it squeals again. "This could be were Trey was hung up," he says looking around.

Dean walks over, flashing the beam of his flashlight along the rafter and joist then along the ground. "If he was found here the Search and Rescue people could've taken the nail or maybe it fell out."

"I'm hoping the S&R people have it," the younger Winchester replies, kneeling on one knee as he sweeps the rocky ground around the wood beam. "Cause if someone is using it in a spell…"

"Don't even say it Sam." The older man kicks at a small pile of rocks dislodging several stones then sweeps his beam over the newly uncovered section.

"I'm just saying Dean, with two kids already dead and no clues we're kinda stuck back at square one."

"Yeah, I know," he replies, kicking one of the smaller rocks in frustration.

Arching his back, Sam grunts as his lower back cracks audibly. "I'm to tall for this," he says grasping a protrusion on the wall and hauling himself up.

Dean grins, "that's what happens when you're a Sasquatch, Sasquatch."

"Hardy-har-har."

"Help us!"

A cold chill runs down the brothers' spines. They instantly go into hunter mode - sawed-off shotguns in hand and back-to-back as their flashlight beams dart around the tunnel. "Dean did you…"

"Yeah I heard Sammy."

"HELP US!"

The air temperature plummets; the sound of rushing water has them turning in circles and a cold wind surrounds them with the sounds of choking and gasping. Rivulets of water snake down the walls and the air feels moist.

"Sam," the older man says quietly, backing up towards the mine entrance.

"Dean." Sam points at a mist floating just above the water's surface. The EMF meter, now hooked to the younger man's belt, squeals and lights up like a Christmas tree. Water is now raining down on them, collecting in depth and the walls resemble waterfalls. The brothers back down the tunnel keeping an eye on the mist as they splash in calf deep water towards the waning daylight and safety. A muffled scream has them turning quickly around.

An unkempt middle age woman has an arm crossed over a teenage girl's neck and chest holding her close, the woman's other arm is pointing at the brothers, a Ruger SR1911 in her hand. "Who the hell are you two?" she demands. With her hands obviously tied behind her back and a gag stuffed in her mouth, the teen girl isn't getting anywhere with her struggles beyond having the woman move her arm to squeeze around her throat. The girl's terror filled eyes plead with the brothers for help. "I said - WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" the woman shakes her gun in emphasis.

Water reaches Dean's knees. Glancing back at the mist than back at the woman he replies, "ghost hunters. We're ghost hunters and right now we gotta get out of here because the ghost is hunting us!"

"YOU'RE WHAT?" was the incredulous response.

Sam takes a couple of steps forward, "we're trying to contact the spirits of the kids who died in here back in '72."

Anger pulses off the woman. "Cal and Kev won't talk to you," she sneers, "they're MY brothers - they only talk to ME!" screaming at the end her finger moves on the trigger. Just then a loud roar bounces off the walls and the water rises to thigh high within seconds. Kicking into high gear the brothers rush the woman. Dean grabs the teenager as Sam shoves his shoulder into the woman's chest while at the same time he grabs her gun hand and slams it into the sharp, rocky ceiling. The gun strikes Sam's head a painful glancing blow when the woman's hand involuntarily opens. Completely unhinged, the woman screams and claws at the younger man. The mist reaches them and she laughs as it engulfs her, Sam reaches out to pull her free and she viciously lashes out at him with her feet and legs. Not having a choice he leaves her to her fate and hurries to help his struggling brother.

The strong current pushes them towards the back of the mine, attaining any headway against it is difficult. A rotted ceiling joist breaks off in the girl's hand, she screams as the current sweeps her feet out from underneath her and she goes under the now chest high water slamming into Dean causing him to almost loose his tentative hold on the support beam. He reaches behind himself hoping to grab onto her but knowing he's probably to late when he gets slammed into again, this time from behind. "Dean, grab her!" Sam chokes out before going under.

He grabs the girl, "slide in front of me and hold on," then turns and yells, "SAM!" just as a dark head pops up. Wedging the heel of his boot in front of the support beam he leans to one side and lifts his leg, "grab on Sam!" With his brother's help, Sam pulls himself forwards and somehow they manage to haul themselves and the terrified teen to the mine entrance. Dean rolls her and himself to one side of the rocky cliff edge outside the entrance and glances back to make sure his brother rolls himself out to the other side. He covers the teen with his body and between bouts of coughing Dean hears rumbling coming from within the mine. The canyon wall shakes from the pressure of the water now shooting out like a geyser from the entrance. Rotten beams shear off from the force of the water and fly out to land somewhere near the creek edge.

The water slows down to a trickle then stops. Dean and Sam look over and watch in amazement as the water flows back into the mine leaving no trace behind, not even mud. Somehow Dean has been able to hang on to his flashlight and he shines it down the dark tunnel, the light glints off the edges of the receding water. Following the water with his beam he catches sight of a limp, bedraggled body hanging from a nail high up on one of the support beams. What he sees next will haunt him 'til his dying day. The head of the young boy moves and half open sightless eyes widen until the blued whites can be seen. Involuntarily Dean jumps back and a small sound escapes his lips.

"Dean?" The older man simply nods in the direction of the tunnel. Confusion crosses Sam's face as he turns to look down the tunnel. Transfixed he watches with his brother as the drowned boy opens his mouth, a gurgling sound comes forth along with a stream of water that runs over the boy's blue lips and chin. His colorless eyes beseech them and they hear, '_Help us_,' repeated louder and faster until the body flickers then disappears. "Trey," Sam whispers.

Dean shakes his head, "poor kid."

"What now?"

"I haven't the faintest idea Sam. The kid is yet isn't a death echo. His body was cremated so there's noth…." Dean's statement is interrupted by a girl's scream. "What the hell?" he says turning towards the teen.

"Lo..look," she says hesitantly, pointing down at the creek. The brothers follow her finger and see the body of a woman, face down and spread eagled in the creek.

Staring at the body Sam suggests, "maybe she's the catalyst."

"The what?"

"Maybe she's responsible for the deaths Dean. She did say Kevin and Calvin were her brothers, so maybe she…"

Dean picks up where Sam leaves off, "she's drowning teens because her brothers were killed in a flash flood? That's kind of a stretch Sam."

"I know but…" he shrugs his shoulders.

"We could blow the mine," he says, turning to his brother.

"Dean…"

"She said we committed sacrilege against her brothers," the girl whispers, tears running down her face, "that we defiled their resting place and must die as they did." She pushes herself up, "I want to go home now…please."

**snsnsnsnsnsnsnsn**

Driving away after dropping the teen off at her home Dean glances over at Sam, "we'll do some research Sam," he grins, "and maybe some moonlight demolition."

**snsnsnsnsnsnsnsn**

The girl watches out the window as the old black car drives away. Dropping the lacey curtain she walks over to the fireplace and picks up a framed photograph, it's a late sixties formal shot of a mother and father holding twin baby girls with twin boys standing on either side of their parents. Setting the picture down she picks up another, tears roll down her cheeks as she kisses the casual shot of her mother and herself sitting on boulders near a creek, laughing. "I'll get them Mom," she says, "_ghost hunters?_ Really?" she rolls her eyes, stroking the smiling face of the woman now laying dead below the mine. "They blasphemed against Uncle Calvin and Uncle Kevin and they'll pay Momma. They ALL will pay."

_**-FIN-**_

_The 1972 Flood was real, it slammed through my hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota on the night of June 9__th__. I was six at the time so memories of it are hazy and colored by a child's lack of understanding of such natural disasters. My family was lucky in that none of the extended family members were lost - property yes, lives thankfully no. _

_Pictures of Canyon Lake and Dark Canyon after the flood can be seen here:_

_http_ -colon 2xbackslash- _sd_ -dot- _water_ -dot- _usgs_ -dot- _gov_ -backslash- _projects_ -backslash- _1972flood_ -backslash- _photos_ -dot- _html_

_http_ -colon 2xbackslash- _sd_ -dot- _water_ -dot- _usgs_ -dot- _gov _-backslash- _projects_ -backslash- _1972flood_ -backslash- _photos2_ -dot- _html_


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